Monterey Peninsula may have an ally on the California water board

The new chairwoman of the state water board, which is expected to play an increasingly crucial role in the water politics of the Peninsula and Salinas Valley in the next few years, has ties to Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett.

Felicia Marcus, 57, a Democrat from Emeryville, was tabbed by Gov. Jerry Brown last week to replace retiring board chairman Charles Hoppin, a Republican. Hers was one of four appointments on the five-member board, which now includes four Democrats — all with strong backgrounds on environmental issues.

Marcus knows Burnett from their days at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Burnett said the two didn't actually work together at the EPA — Marcus worked as regional administrator at the Pacific Southwest office and left in 2001, shortly before Burnett started work at the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters — but he said they "compared notes" about their experience with the agency.

Though he sought to downplay the extent of their relationship, Burnett said he spoke with her "a few years ago" — before he was elected to the Carmel City Council — about the Peninsula water issue. And he apparently knows Marcus well enough to say she has a "very pragmatic approach" and "works to bring in a wide range of stakeholders" on issues.

Burnett said he wasn't aware Marcus had been appointed as chairwoman, and called to congratulate her shortly after he learned of it. He said he believes she will do a great job.

And, Burnett acknowledged, "it doesn't hurt we have the same background."

Dave Stoldt, general manager of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, said Marcus "could very well be a friend of the Peninsula," given her relationship with Burnett.

The state water board will be charged with deciding how to enforce its own 2009 cease-and-desist order that required California American Water to cut back on pumping from the Carmel River by the start of 2017. That order followed the board's ruling in the mid-1990s that Cal Am was exceeding its legal water right from the river.

The order prompted Cal Am to seek a replacement water source capable of meeting the Peninsula's demands, including the failed regional desalination project and the subsequent Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project, a $400 million proposal currently pending before the state Public Utilities Commission.

However, Cal Am has already acknowledged its current proposal will miss the 2017 deadline by about a year, leaving the state water board with a decision about how to proceed.

A lawsuit by Cal Am and other Peninsula interests against the state water board challenging the order was dismissed without prejudice last summer based on an agreement by all parties to allow the litigation to proceed if, and when, it is necessary.

Some observers have speculated Brown's appointments have tilted the state water board to the environmental left, and could result in a stricter interpretation and enforcement of the cutback order.

However, former state water board member Marc Del Piero said the board won't force an "economic Armageddon" on the Peninsula as long as a solution is within reach, and Peninsula officials are hopeful that's the case.

Burnett said he and other local officials are in regular contact with the state water board staff on the Peninsula water issue, and Stoldt said talks will begin soon regarding how to handle the administrative process of the cease-and-desist order.

Stoldt said local officials are hoping to convince the board's staff that a "regulatory drought can't be handled with rationing."

Burnett said he believes it's "premature to reach out" to the state water board, and the order's continued presence serves to keep the Peninsula focused on a solution.

Tthe state water board will also be charged with considering whether to revoke the county's 55-year-old Salinas River use permit. The matter is set for a mid-April hearing at its headquarters in Sacramento.

Del Piero said the new board can also be expected to focus attention on stormwater runoff and water quality with potentially major implications for the Salinas Valley. The issues also could have an impact on the Peninsula.

Burnett said he planned to propose the state water board set a future meeting for the Peninsula in an effort to allow the public to see how the board's decision-making process works.

Marcus was appointed to the water board last year. She served as western director for the Natural Resources Defense Council from 2008-12, as executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Trust for Public Land from 2001-08, and as regional administrator at the EPA's Southwest Pacific office from 1993 to 2001.

Marcus was a commissioner for the city of Los Angeles Public Works board in the 1990s. Stoldt said he believes she will be a "strong supporter" of the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency's recycled water program.